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Old June 18th 04, 06:40 PM
Dennis Fetters
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John,
Thank you for your kind post giving us your view.

John Ammeter wrote:
Dennis,

I'm sure no one will doubt your ability to sell helicopters.
You designed a product that would appeal to many people; in
particular, to the new builder or pilot.

It was "cute" and "sporty", to say the least....

Unfortunately, due to the very nature of your customer base,
most of the new owner/builders had little or no real
experience in building aircraft, let alone a helicopter with
its many specific needs.



Correct. 73% of our buyers had no helicopter experience whatsoever. 99%
had no experience building a helicopter. 91% never built an aircraft of
any kind.

But, even with this great deal of inexperience most all were capable of
building and flying the Mini-500. It is a simple helicopter to build and
fly, yet still being a helicopter and unforgiving to neglect and to
stupidity.


Where you failed your customers was in failing to realize
that you absolutely had to detail exactly how the 2 stroke
Rotax was to be installed. Your failure was most likely due
to your expectation that the builder would know more than
they did...



Thank you for your opinion, but I don't think that is the case. We had a
very nice and detailed assembly manual. The parts were even designed to
only fit one way. We had no problem with owners assembling the engine
into the helicopter correctly. In fact I can't remember one that I saw
incorrect. The problem came to the jetting, of which we gave out plenty
of instructions, newsletters and advisories, but some customers simply
refused to change the jetting. They would say "it flies fine in a hover
with the stock jets, so I'll wait and see how it does in flight before I
do any changing". Of course then, it was to late. We told them why and
what would happen, but some of them did it anyway. Later we even started
taking the jets out of the engine before we shipped it and made them buy
jets using the same chart we always sent. We could not provide jets
because of different altitudes. Remember most of the customers did what
they should. It was only a few that didn't, but those are the ones you
hear about.


If/when you ever get back into the kit sales business I'd
strongly suggest you hire someone to write the builders
manual in such a way that even the newbie will know exactly
what to do and how to do it.



No thanks, I don't need the grief of dealing with the public.

But, as I said, we had one of the best manuals out there. Time after
time the FAA inspector would comment to the customer on how nice and
detailed the manual was, and so would the customers. We sent a set to
the FAA in OK, they said the same thing.

But, there was a problem. We started to notice that most everyone we
talked to at the air shows or on the phone were building according to
the pictures and drawings, because they were so detailed, and ignoring
all the written instruction. Even when it said at the first of each
chapter "Read and understand this entire section before applying the
directions". We sent out letters and did all we could to warn them about
omitting even the simplest details. How many times did I tell a guy he
should disassemble his Mini-500 and start again, but this time READ!


Also, I'd suggest a motor that wasn't so dependant on EXACT
jetting for dependability. When the motor worked as planned
an FAA standard pilot could fly the helicopter... BUT, when
a 200 pound pilot attempted to fly the helicopter at the
2500 foot elevation of Las Vegas and 80 degrees it was not
possible to get out of ground effect. I was there and saw
it...



Well, the Rotax was not so dependent on exact jetting, just proper
jetting. And again, most customers did fine, it was only a few we had
problems with. You had summer jetting and winter jetting. Some failed to
switch, and some failed to rejet to helicopter all together.

Later we came out with the PEP system which took away the need of summer
and winter jetting. So long as you put the proper PEP jetting in, you
had no problems, no more engine failures after that.

I have customers flying all over the world at those altitudes and
weight, but there are other factors why a Mini-500 can't hover at that
altitude. I had a Mini-500 customer at 180 pounds that couldn't fly at
500 feet. After inspecting it and finding a few adjustments, and pealing
off the improper blade tape that ruined the laminar flow of the blades,
it flew fine.
But admittedly, the performance is not going to be good at 2500 feet.
Remember, a Mini-500 with one pilot and full of fuel is fully loaded.
You take a Brantly with two people and full of fuel and it's fully
loaded, and it won't hover at 2500 feet either.

But, with the introduction of the PEP, that added enough available power
that you would perform very well at that altitude. I have owners using
the PEP and flying from 6500 feet and loving it.

But not all the customers complied with the mandatory PEP, and they
still had some problems. It is a fact that a Mini-500 with all the
latest upgrades fly fine, and still are. But I firmly believe that no
one should continue flying any aircraft that no longer has factory support.

I look at myself and can say I have failed in many things by wishing I
would have done some thing better or differently. Hindsight is 20/20.

I wish I would have made my factory on higher ground the first time, so
I would have avoided loosing my factory in the floods of 93 and
occurring all the expenses to start over.

I wish I would have never gave Rick Stitt and Lee a job.

I wish I would have never met that back stabbing Fred Stewart and sold
him a kit.

I wish I would have continued paying Jim Campbell every month for that
worthless ad in his rag magazine so he wouldn't have turned on me like
the dog he is.

I wish I would have never designed the 0.001" bushings to be on the
cotton picking inside of the check plates so head shifts wouldn't be
such a pain in the ass!!

But, unlike most people, I DID get off my ass and do something, and am
still doing something, and I'll never regret that. So did I fail at
anything? No, never failed, maybe could have done a few thing better,
but never failed.

Did I fail with Revolution Helicopter. No, we did an outstanding job
against all odds. We did what few have been able to accomplish, and we
are proud of that. We closed because we were defeated after a 2 year war
with Stewart and his coolies, a small group of people that cheated and
lied to everyone about us, while advertising in Kitplanes magazine they
wanted to start their own helicopter company, so they needed us out of
the way. Our ammunition could only be the truth. But you don't need fire
to stop someone's sales, smoke will do if you keep it up long enough.

In the end, Fred Stewart is the one that failed. He never could start
his own helicopter company, or offer assistance to Mini-500 owners as he
promised, and now he has a worthless Mini-500 with no factory support.
He has no victory either, because there is no honor in stabbing a friend
in the back, or defeating someone with lies.

Again, thanks for your view, hope I put some light on mine.

Sincerely,

Dennis Fetters